Early Championships

Original Analytics

By Larry McCray Ballplaying in Civil War Camps Early Championships What Was Rounders, Anyway? What Was Town Ball, Anyway?

Original Writers

Bill Humber Bob Tholkes Bruce Allardice Corky Gaskell Debbie Shattuck Howard Burman Jeffrey Kittel Larry McCray John and Kay Price Mark Brunke Richard Hershberger Rob Loeffler Tom Gilbert

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It's About Winning, Stupid!

Until 1855, most modern base ball was apparently played intramurally, and the main objectives were healthful exercize and comaraderie, the latter often achieved at jolly post-game banquets.

But soon, match games began to dominate, and the main point was winning. Not eating lots, not breathing hard, but winning.

We noticed this trend when we weren't looking for it. In the newly collected data on the SABR "Spread of Base Ball" site, and in Protoball, a surprising number and variety of claims of area championships turned up, often for ad hoc local territories. Below is our initial compilation of such championship claims, updated July 2024.

Month	Crown	Crowned Club	Note	URL
Sept 1858	Champs of Rochester	Live Oak BBC	Unbeaten Against other County Clubs	link
1859	Champs of Buffalo	Niagara BBC	Beat the Erie BBC of Buffalo	link
Sep 1859	Champs of Chicago	Atlantic BBC	Beat the Excelsior BBC of Chicago	[1]
Oct 1859	Champs of Brooklyn	Atlantic BBC of Brooklyn	Beat the Eckford BBC of Brooklyn 22-12
July 1860	Champs of Rochester	Lone Star BBC	Beat the Live Oak BBC	link
Aug 1860	Junior Champs of Brooklyn	Powhattan BBC of Brooklyn	beat the Oriental BBC of Brooklyn 16-11	[2]
Aug 1860	Champs of Brooklyn	Atlantic BBC of Brooklyn	versus the Excelsior BBC of Brooklyn. Game called at 6-6
Sep 1860	Central New York Champions	Syracuse BB Club	Had beaten champs of surrounding counties	link
Oct. 1862	Champs of Pennsylvania	Olympic BBC	Versus the Athletic BBC of Philadelphia	[3]
Aug 1863	Champs of Illinois	Garden City BBC of Chicago	versus Empire BBC of Freeport, best of 3
Aug 1864	Champs of Canada	Young Canadians of Woodstock	Beat the Maple Leafs of Hamilton
Aug 1864	Champion, Union Prison Camp		Ohio's "earliest match game"	link
Sep 1864	National Champs	Atlantic BBC of Brooklyn	Mutual BBC of NYC
July 1865	New England and Massachusetts Champs	Harvard U. BBC	beat Lowell BBC of Boston 28-17. In Oct. Lowell beat Harvard 40-37 and claimed the state championship.
Sep 1865	Champs of Michigan	Capital BBC of Detroit	beat Central BBC of Jackson 31-13
Nov 1865	National Champs	Atlantic BBC of Brooklyn	beat Athletic BBC of Philadelphia, 27-24
Feb 1866	Champs of California	Pacific BBC of San Francisco	beat Eagle BBC of San Francisco 32-18
Apr 1866	Indiana State Championship	Laporte BB Club	Best of 3 Series	link
July 1866	Champs of Midwest	Excelsior BBC of Chicago	Multi-state tourney in Rockford IL	link
July 1866	Champs of Western Reserve (N. Ohio)	Forest City BBC of Cleveland	beat Penfield Club of Oberlin 48-14
Aug 1866	Champs of Tennessee and Kentucky	Louisville BB Club	Beat Cumberland BBC of Nashville club, 39-23.	link
Aug 1866	Champs of Northern Missouri	Empire BB Club of Chillicothe MO		link
Sep 1866	Champs of Michigan	Detroit BBC	versus Anchors of Adrian
Sept 1866	Champs of New Hampshire	Dartmouth College BB Club	Beat a Concord NH Club, 38-7	link
Sept 1866	Champs of Connecticut	Charter Oaks BBC of Hartford	Beat the Chester Club of Norwich
Oct 1866	National Champs	Atlantic BBC of Brooklyn	vs Athletic of Philadelphia. 3rd and deciding game not played
Oct 1866	Champs of the South	Lone Star BBC of New Orleans	beat Magnolia BBC of New Orleans, 42-29
Oct 1866	Champs of Oregon	Pioneer BB Club of Portland	"May wear their laurels until fairly won from them"	link
Oct 1866	Iowa State Tourney Champs	not yet known		link
Oct 1866	Champs of Greater Cincinnati	not yet known	5-club tourney: Cincy, Dayton KY, Covington KY clubs	link
Oct 1866	Champs of SE Iowa (?)	not yet known	7-club tourney: Burlington, Davenport, Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant	link
Nov 1866	City Champs, Virginia, Nevada	not yet known	Virginia BBC vs. Northwestern BB Club	link
March 1867	Champs of North Carolina	Nationals BBC of Raleigh	beat Meteor BBC of New Bern, 49-40
June 1867	Champs of Colorado	Colorado BBC	versus Rocky Mountain BBC
July 1867	Champs of Delaware	Diamond State BB Club of Wilmington	3-game series against Wawasset Club of Wilmington	link
July 1867	Champs of the West	Omaha BBC	Omaha BBC vs. Occidental Club of Denver	link
Aug 1867	Champs of Maryland	Maryland BBC of Baltimore	beat Pastime BBC of Baltimore 47-26
Aug 1867	Champs of Kansas	Frontier BB Club of Leavenworth		link
Aug 1867	Champs of Columbus, Ohio	Capital BBC	beat Excelsior BBC 53-48
Sep 1867	Champs of Virginia	Pastime BBC of Richmond	versus Independent BBC of Petersburg
Sept 1867	Champs of Tennessee	Holston Club	Holston Club of Knoxville vs. Mountain Club of Chattanooga	link
Sept 1867	Champs of Central Vermont (?)	not yet known	5-club tourney, all central VT clubs	link
Sep 1867	Champs of Wisconsin	Cream City BBC of Milwaukee	Beat Whitewater BBC 44-19
Oct 1867	National Champs	Union BBC of Morrisania	Beat Atlantic of Brooklyn in 2nd game of series
Oct 1867	Champs of Maine	Bowdoin BBC of Brunswick	beat Eon BBC of Portland, 39-36
Oct 1867	Champs of Iowa	Hawkeyes BBC of Mt. Pleasant	beat Western BBC of Burlington 115-42
Nov 1867	Champs of Vermont	Queen City BBC of Burlington	beat Mountaineer BBC of West Randolph 103-8
April 1868	Champs of Texas	Stonewall Club of Houston	Beat R. E. Lee Club of Galveston, 34-6	link
May 1868	Champs of Alabama	Montgomery Club of Montgomery	Beat Dramatic Club of Mobile, best 2 of 3
June 1868	Champs of the County	Eagles of Wabasha MN	(A newspaper's aspiration for this new club)	link
July 1868	Champs of West Tennessee	Bluff City BBC of Memphis	beat Pride of the South BBC of Memphis, best 2 or 3	link
July 1868	Champs of Rhode Island	Hope and Anchor BBC of Pawtucket	Beat the Olympic BBC of Providence 41-35
July 1868	Champs of Minnesota	Minnehaha BBC of Northfield	Beat the North Star BBC of St. Paul 77-38
Sep 1868	Champs of West Virginia	Baltic BBC of Wheeling	beat United BBC of South Wheeling 50-35
Sept 1868	Champs of Arkansas	Arnold BBC defeated the Dixie BBC 30-14	BB Tourney at the State Fair, played in November	link
Oct 1868	National Champs	Mutual BBC of NYC	Atlantic BBC of Brooklyn 28-17, in 3rd game of series
Nov 1868	Champs of New Mexico	Santa Fe BBC	Beat Bradley BBC of Fort Union 74-36
Aug 1869	Junior Champs of Illinois	Occidental BB Club of Quincy	Beat Liberty Jr. Club of Springfield.	[4]
Sep 1869	Champs of Mississippi	Osyka BB Club	Beat Summit Club 47-23.	link
Oct 1869	Champs of Los Angeles	St. Vincent's BBC	beat Energetic BBC 47-23
Nov 1869	Champs of Iowa	Pottowatomie Club of Council Bluffs	Beat Crescent Club of Des Moines 35-23.	Chicago Tribune 11/4/69
July 1870	Champs of Utah Territory	Corinne BB Club	Beat Enneas (Salt Lake City) Club, 42-31	link
Aug 1870	Champs of Nebraska	Elkhorns of Omaha	Beat the Otoes of Nebraska City 34-21
Sept 1870	Champs of Vermont	not yet known	Round robin State Tourney Set	link
Oct 1870	Champs of Georgia	Blue Stockings of Savannah	beat Olympic of Macon 86-21
May 1871	Red River Championship, Louisiana	Rapides Club of Alexandria	beat Lone Star BBC of Pineville	link
Aug 1871	Champs of Colorado	Denver Blue Stockings	defeated other clubs but no championship awarded, because winning club used ringers	link
June 1872	Championship of "1872"	Arlington BBC of Shreveport	Beat Blue Stockings BBC of Shreveport 57-32	link
Oct 1873	Montana Territory Champs	Fort Ellis BBC	beat Helena BBC 56-7, Helena not being used to fast pitching
July 1875	Champs of Kane County IL	Bluff City BBC of Elgin		link
Aug 1875	Champs of Alabama and MS	A Mississippi Club	Beat Demopolis BB Club of Alabama	link
May 1876	Champs of Arizona Territory	Champion Club of Prescott	Beat Whipple BB Club of Fort Whipple	link
July 1876	Champs of Colorado (?)	not yet known	Tourney in Central City, CO	link
July 1876	Champs of No. Mississippi	Corinth BB Club	Beat Iuka BB Club	link
Aug 1876	Champs of King County, WA	not yet known	Alkis of Seattle vs Miners of Newcastle